Weather The Storm
by MoreThingsOnHeavenAndEarth
Summary: Edward wasn't the first Elric to become a dog of the military, Mustang reflected, he was the just the one that found what he was looking for. Post Manga/Brotherhood. Minor RoyAi. Rated 'T' for language.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This takes place right after manga/brotherhood. I know from personal experience that to see the name 'Elric' is to immediately think 'Mary-Sue', but please, hold on for a bit. While it may not be too terribly different, it's probably not what you're thinking. This is rated T for language, and possibly violence in later chapters.**

** Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

**** Talia Elric had made many, many mistakes in her life, and she regretted many, many, many things. To ask her to choose the worst among them would be like asking a mother to chose her favorite child.

One thing that she did not regret, was taking that transfer. As Talia glanced sleepily out of the window, she smiled. Civilization was already starting to grow thicker and more common outside of the train windows, a nice departure from the backwater prison she had spent the last several years of her life. Of course, the term 'prison' was metaphorical, although quite often it felt like a much more fitting title then 'work'.

It had all started when she got a phone call from Central. A phone call from an old friend who simply suggested that she take a long, out of the country vacation very soon. Being the kind of person that she was, Talia immediately started preparing to head straight to Central, but met an unhappy surprise.

Colonel Roy Mustang was staging a coup. Troops from the ever-faithful-to-Central (bootlickers if you asked her) Western Headquarters were being sent to assist the forces in Central. Oh sure, she would have gone with them eagerly, but she sure as the hellfires below wouldn't have helped Central Command.

Of course, knowing this, they had practically placed her under arrest. Until that strange light had come and everyone...died. But then, they weren't dead, and word came from Central that the command structure had been 'reordered'.  
A man called Grumman was Fuhrer now. He was from the East, so Talia knew very little about him. That's why she was quite confused when she was offered a transfer back to Central and a promotion to boot.  
Colonel. The word sounded quite odd to her. Over in the West, ranks were only granted when one was particularly vicious during wartime. At least, that was how she made her way to Lt. Colonel. Damn, now that her thoughts were going down that path, sleeping would only result in nightmares. Nightmares of sand and blood and villages quite literally being torn apart.

Hoping to distract herself, Talia pulled out her silver pocket watch and flipped it open. Then she sighed. An hour till they got to Central at least, and the sky was already growing dark. Wait, if the sky was growing dark, why did the clock say...

What? Talia blinked in confusion as she noticed that the tiny needles were not moving. It was... stopped? But her watch never stopped. Never. Thinking about it, that watch was stopped at exactly the time when everyone in Amestris felt their souls being torn from their bodies. Creepy. Explainable, but still creepy. Pocketing the timepiece, Talia stretched and swung her feet up onto the seat so that she could sit with her knees pulled into her chest. It was getting rather sold on the train as the light and warmth of day slowly fled over the horizon, and one more thing that she was starting to regret was not wearing her military uniform. As damnable as the thing could be at times, it was very warm. She had originally hoped that going under civilian cover would assure her a safer and more pleasant journey, but there were so few people on the train that it hardly mattered. After what happened, everyone wanted to stay at home with their families.

Talia probably would too, if she hadn't left her family and everyone she knew oh-so-many years ago to join the military. She swore that she would make something of herself. "Well," she thought derisively, snorting quietly, "I certainly did that."

Sometimes she thinks that her life would have been better had she just stayed in Resembool and been a nobody alchemist whose only mission in life was to help those around her. Had she just listened to her parents...Aunt Pinako...her sister, Trisha...Master Hohenheim. As a matter of fact, everyone she knew had begged her not to go. She ignored them, and look where she ended up.

Well, if quiet contemplation was only going to go down this path, she might as well read. Only, that would mean moving, and she was rather comfortable where she was. She was so very warm, and so very tired...

"Hey Ma'am." A quiet voice reached into the warm and thankfully dreamless dark of sleep and plucked her out. Talia opened her eyes and blinked a few times to clear the sleep.

"You idiot, you woke her up." A female voice admonished quietly. Talia looked over her knees to see two children or around five or six peeking around the edge of the seat, one male one female. The little boy blushed and pulled back behind the seat so that only his eyes were showing.

"Can I help you?" Talia asked calmly, her voice relatively free of the slur of fatigue. Waking up fast was a necessary skill after all, when one spent half of their time fighting.

"We were wondering if you knew what time it was." The little boy asked quickly, poking his head back around and seemingly reassured by the lack of annoyance in her voice. Talia shrugged apologetically.

"Sorry, my watch is broken." She replied. The little girl huffed.

"See Finn, I told you. All of the watches broke back on the Bad Day." The little girl scolded the little boy, Finn.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Let's get back before Mom wakes up." Finn said sheepishly, then turned to Talia.

"Thank you Ma'am, have a nice evening." He said, nodding slightly then disappearing around the side of the seat, quickly followed by the girl Talia now presumed to be his sister. Talia let out a small smile. Children were still children, wrapped up in their own little lives, protected from the harsh reality of the world.

Geez, when did she get so philosophical? Turning to glance out the window, she noticed that the sun was no longer visible, and the landscape outside was colored muted twilight. Even though it was dark, she could clearly see the train station growing closer and closer.

Talia shifted, placing her feet back on the floor and winced. That'd teach her to fall asleep in these wretched seats again. The train started to slow and she stood, turning and reaching up for her carry on. Her small apartment in West City was never really home to her, and she traveled so often that she never really accumulated much in the way of possessions. The only thing that she really had were books, and those were being shipped separately.

As the train slid to a halt and Talia, along with the few other passengers on the train, filed neatly out and onto the mostly deserted platform. There was a squeal of joy and Talia looked over to see Finn and his sister racing towards a man who was crouched with his arms open to them and an overjoyed expression on his face. He was decked out in military blue. and wearing the stripes of a Warrant Officer. It was only then, seeing an honesty display of affection, stepping onto the solid ground that was familiar yet foreign, free to move about as she wished with absolutely no one watching her every move, that it struck her.

She was free of that hell-on-earth that was called West HQ. She was free of that asshole of a Lieutenant General. She was free, at least temporarily, of the battlefield that was the Creta/Amestris border. She was free of the house arrest and the babysitters and-  
"Storm?" Well, maybe not the babysitters. The voice sounded a mixture of relieved and disbelieving, not to mention very familiar. Turning to face the sound, Talia knew why. It had been a few years since she had seen him, and he had gotten older. He still had that air of conniving self-importance around him though, and a pretty blond figure still stood stoically by his side.

"It's been a while." She greeted without much emotion. Talia hardly ever showed any emotion these days, a far cry from her childhood, she supposed.

"To think, you a Colonel. Keep it up and you'll almost be respectable." The Flame Alchemist drawled. In spite of herself, Talia's lips twitched up into a slight smile.

"I hope not, Brigadier General." Talia replied, "I do have a reputation to uphold after all." Captain Hawkeye nodded to her.

"It's been too long, Colonel." The blonde said, smiling. Talia grinned widely, for what felt like the first time in years.

"Indeed it has."

**AN: Alright. So, please tell me if the character has caught your interest yet. I'm sorry of the chapter was a bit boring, but I had to get introductions out of the way first. Also, I apologize for any grammar or spelling issues.**


	2. Chapter 2

Universe: Gacia

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Story: Weather The Storm

**AN: So, sorry for the wait, but I'm still working on how to develop Talia's character. Again, please tell me about any grammar or spelling issues, I'm working without an editor and I can only catch so many myself. **

**Warning: Language, but if you've watched the show you've probably heard the words before.**

**Disclaimer: Yada yada yada I own nothing. (Except Talia, mwahahahaha)**

"So the name 'Elric' has become quite famous around these parts." Mustang said. Talia nodded.

"Edward and Alphonse? Yes, being _his_ children, they would be." She said contemplatively.

"Oh?"

"Smartest bastard I know. Only makes sense he would pass it on to them." Mustang let out a small chuckle. She looked at him.

"Something funny?" She asked, honestly not knowing what she had done. He stifled the laughter with a cough.

"Nothing, it's just becoming more and more obvious the two of you are related." Now Talia was confused. Which one of them was he referring to? She had met the two boys briefly after Trisha's... funeral, and they seemed nice enough. A bit in shock, but that was better than the alternative, she supposed. She couldn't stay too long though, because no one really wanted her there and no one even tried to hide their hostility.

Talia couldn't think of a response to that, but she didn't have to because the car stopped. It looked like they were outside of an apartment building, but it was hard to tell in the dark. A thought bubbled up in the back of her mind, nagging at her consciousness.

"Why did they send _you_?" Talia wondered aloud. Roy looked at her quizzically. "Well, I could have just as easily found my own way here, wherever here is, or they could have sent someone of a lower rank." She elaborated.

"Heaven help the man who understands the mind of the Fuhrer." Was his cryptic reply. Hawkeye glanced over at him from the driver's seat where he sat, an amused look in her eyes. Like there was an inside joke somewhere in his statement. A small pang of despair shot through her long-cold heart, and she grimaced slightly at herself. She had been gone too long, she had missed too much. She didn't get the jokes. Ah well, it didn't really matter. Who knew how long she would be here, after all.

She really was tired. That nap on the train hadn't served to do more than take the edge off of her exhaustion. The silence was stretching on a bit, so in hopes of preventing it from becoming awkward, she spoke up.

"I'm going to need a key." She stated simply. Mustang's eyes widened a little.

"Right, err." He started patting down his pockets, "I have it some-" He was cut off by Hawkeye calmly holding the desired object in front of him.

"You left it back at the office, Sir." The woman said calmly. Talia grinned a bit to herself and accepted the small bit of metal when it was handed back to her.

"Well, I'd better be going." Talia said lightly, opening the door and stepping out onto the sidewalk, carry-on in hand. She heard the car pull out behind her, and started for the building. The night was rather cold and she couldn't wait to get out of it. Glancing at her key, she absently noted the room number. 7C. Looking up and counting the windows, she saw that there were seven floors. Smiling, she opened the door and entered the dimly lit lobby.

"So the surprise guest was _her_?" Hawkeye summed up after a minute or two of silence.

"I sincerely hope the Fuhrer knows what he's doing." Mustang answered simply, his head held in his hand and propped up by his elbow, staring out the window at the dark scenery passing outside the car.

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The Next Day...

Talia didn't like being woken up early. Sure, she put up with it, and over the years she had even gotten used to it, but that didn't mean that she had to like it, especially when it was because of the doorbell sounding obnoxiously loudly. This time when she looked blearily up and the clock and saw that it was 4:30 in the morning, she was downright pissed. She had been having her first night of uninterrupted sleep in days, and then some stupid-

She opened the door and tried mask her annoyance. The young man who stood there was dressed in a mailman outfit, and behind him was several crates.

"Is this the residence of Colonel Talia Elric?" He asked. He looked normal enough, but one could never be sure.

"Who wants to know?" The man frowned a bit.

"I have a delivery for her." He replied. Talia scanned the crates. There were five of them, all cubic, all made of wood, all about three feet tall. In other words, they were identical to the ones she had shipped off, if looking a little bit battered.

"Alright." Talia accepted the clipboard and signed it. The man checked to make sure the paperwork was all filled out, then with a nod to her he left. The crates were heavy, but with a light application of wind alchemy, Talia was able to carry them just fine. Almost subconsciously she glanced down at her wrists to ensure that both bracelets were still there. She didn't need to check for the necklace, it's comforting weight pressing against the skin just below her neck. Three. Three transmutation circles disguised as jewelery, three types of alchemy that when working together created Meteorologically Specialized Alchemy. Or, since referring to it as such usually got her strange looks, Weather Alchemy.

After taking the time to flip through each and every book to check for damages, and look for bombs, she left the crates there for the time being. This apartment didn't look to have the shelf space anyways.

She _did _have to be at work in forty five minutes, Talia noted, glancing at the clock. Even after all these years, she knew where Central Command was, and looking out of the window, she could see the street sign at the corner. Pulling out the map of Central, she plotted the route from here to work and was pleased to note that it should take no more than 10 minutes on foot.

Since she had about half an hour with nothing to do, she decided to take a morning walk. It was quite nice, she decided, being back in Central. It wasn't exactly the same, not in broad daylight, but it was similar enough for her to have a basic sense where she was. The sun was still coming up, casting a soft light down the east-west avenue she was walking down. It was lined with small shops, and the delicious smells drifting out of one of them reeled her in like a fish on a line. The girl behind the counter was nice, and obviously used to dealing with the military, because she didn't even start when she saw the uniform she donned.

So Talia ordered scones and tea and sat down to eat, looking over her alchemical notes and making adjustments here and there. A habit really, back from the days when she wanted to avoid looking up at the world or possibly garnering the attention of any of the unattached young men. Not that anybody looked twice at her in West City, where her face and name were matched together for all to see. At least here the title 'Stormcloud Alchemist' wasn't quite paired with the face she bore, most people imagining a rather more impressive figure.

After finishing her impromptu breakfast, she stood and smiled at the young woman behind the counter. The woman smiled back, and gave a friendly wave of farewell as Talia left the shop. The way Talia saw it, there was no reason not to be nice to people, so long as she wasn't being ordered to kill them.

So, as Talia was walking down the street, she passed by a dimly lit alley. Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Turning her head slowly, she saw a small shape sprawled on the ground, and a wet, irregular gasping sound that must have been it's labored breathing.

Talia wanted to help it, but she was no fool. She knew what happened to people who stepped into allies. While the morning light made it so that she could see, she couldn't do so very well.

She had a gun on her, and all of her transmutation circles. Thus feeling reasonably safe, she stepped forwards and crouched down to examine the figure. Peeling back the dirty blanket that shrouded it, she saw... she saw...

Talia Elric, the Stormcloud Alchemist, Veteran of both the Ishval and Creta Wars, stumbled backwards and had to resist the urge to vomit at the raw horror she felt at the sight.

**AN: Mwah ha ha. I love cliffhangers, they make me feel so evil. (:**


End file.
